Furniture leg attaching bracket



April 20, 1965 J. HOLTZ 3,179,365

FURNITURE LEG ATTACHING BRACKET Filed March 17, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. -2- FIG. -4-

INVENTOR.

JACOB HOLTZ QO nw ATTORNEY April 20, 1965 J. HOLTZ FURNITURE LEG ATTACHING BRACKET Filed March 17, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JACOB HOLTZ gig? ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,179,365 FURE LEG ATTACHING BRACKET Jacob Holtz, 3650 Richmond St, Philadelphia, Pa. Filed Mar. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 352,495 1 Claim; (Cl. 248-488) My invention relates to bracket for detachably securing a leg to the underside of a table, chair or the like.

More specifically my invention relates to the type of bracket disclosedin the Wernecke Patent No. 2,784,930

of March 12, 1957. t

In FIG. 3 of. the Wernecke patent there is shown a bracket having its opposite surfaces parallel whereby the leg is mounted at an angle of 90 degrees to the surface to which it is attached and in FIG. 2, there is disclosed another bracket the opposite surfaces of which converge whereby the leg is mounted at an angle to the surface of which it is attached. For a more detailed description of the brackets referred to and the manner in which they operate, reference may be had to the Wernecke patent.

In an effort to dispense with the use of two separate brackets, one for vertical-and one for angular mounting of the leg,;Perry, in Patent No; 2,879,086 of March 24, 1959, disclosed a single plate having two angularly related surfaces, one for vertical mounting and one for slanted mounting, said surfaces being connected by a central slot for receiving a T-shaped nut so that by moving the nut to one end of the slot or the other, the leg can be mounted vertically or at a slant. For more detailed description of this arrangement, reference can be had to FIG, 1 of the Perry patent.

In a still further attempt to dispense with the use of two separate plates, Shapiro in Patent No. 2,828,174,

and more particularly in FIGS. 14 to 16 thereof, disclosed a vertical anda slanted mounting bracket joined together, each of said brackets being separately engageable with the leg whereby the leg can be mounted in a vertical position by securing it to one bra'cket and whereby the leg can be mounted at a slant by securing it to the other bracket. For. a more detailed description of this arrangement reference can be had to the Shapiro at one predetermined angle relative to the table top. This may be satisfactory under certain conditions but i not under others.

It is, therefore, a further object of this invention'to produce a mounting bracket whereby a leg can be mounted either vertically or at more than one angle to the vertical.

Because some consumers wish to mount legs vertically and others wish to mount it on an angle, and because still others may wish to change from one position to the other, it is necessary for the dealer to stock the two separate brackets of Wernecke or the dual bracket of Perry, or the double brackets of Shapiro. This represents increased investment on the part of the dealer and unwarranted expense to a consumer who is interested in one mounting of the leg and who does not change his mind. Also, the complicated configuration of the Perry and in the stamping operation.

It is, therefore, a still further object of my invention to produce a leg attaching the bracket of the type set forth which can be produced by simple die, which consumes a minimum amount of metal and which can mount a leg in a vertical position or in at least two different slanted positions thereby producing what may be termed as a three-way bracket while using a single and simply constructed bracket.

A still more specific object of the invention is to adapt a bracket of the type shown in FIG. 2 of the Wernecke patent.

The full nature of my invention will be understood from the following specification and accompanying drawings in which: I FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a mounting bracket which, in its configurations can be the same as the bracket shown in FIG. 2 of the Wernecke patent. 7

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1 showing the leg mounted in a first slanted position which corresponds to the position of FIG. 8 of the Wernecke patent.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 1 but showing how the bracket adapted for mounting the leg in a vertical position.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view looking in the direction of lines 44 on FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is similar to FIGS. 1 and 3 but shows the bracket adapted for mounting the leg at a greater slant than that illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view looking in the direction of line'6 6 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 illustrates the increased slanted position the leg The bracket includes an attachment flange 16 which is I provided with holes 12 for receiving screws for rigidly securing the bracket to the underside of a table or the like 16; The bracket also includes a generally round embossment 18, which, in the use position of FIGS. 2, 4 and 7, depends from attachment flange It). The central portion of embossment 18 is bent upwardly as at 20 and is provided with a polygonal opening for receiving a polygonal nut 22 which is clinched in position in the manner disclosed in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the Wernecke patent. It will be noted that the depth of the recessed central portion 20 and the. thickness of the nut and depth of the main embossment 18 are so interrelated that in the use position of FIGS.. 4 and 7, the upper surface offthe nut will be below the plane of theattachment flange and the lower surface of the nut will be above the plane of the embossment 18 so that the flat upper surface of a leg 24 comes to rest against the large area of the underside of embossment 18 even after the leg has been engaged and firmly tightened. The reason for this arrangement is to provide increased bearing surface between the leg and the embossment as distinguished from an arrangement in which the lower surface of the nut projects below the plane of the embossment whereby the surface of the leg will bear against the surface of embossment 18. It will be understood that the bracket is made of a spring sheet metal having the desired coefiicients of resiliency and rigidity. In practice, commercial cold rolled steel thick has been found satisfactory. As set forth in the Wernecke patent, the leg is provided with a hanger in the manner shown in FIG. 3.

bolt, the lower part of which is in the nature of a wood screw 26 for penetrating into theleg and upper of which is a machine screw for threading into nut 22.

It willbe obviousthat, when the machine screw 28 is threaded into the nut the leg will be pulled up against the underside of embossment 18 and that further force applied in leg turning direction will create a stress which can only be relieved by downward movement of the nut. But, since, as a practical matter, the force applied need never be enough to deform the bracket, the downward stress applied to the nut will be translated into upward pressure by the leg against the embossment. 7

To carry out my invention I provide the embossment 18 of the bracket with a set of holes 30 and a set of holes 32 adapted to receive snap buttons 36. It will be noted that holes 30 are in the deep portion of the embossment and that holes 32 are in the shallow portion of the bracket. e

As can be seen from FIGS. 8 and 9, each button 36 includes a head 38 and a stem 40 which has a central slot 42 and the sides of which are rounded so that thebuttons may be snapped into and out of openings 30 and 32. The operation is as follows:

' To mount the leg 24 in a mildly slanted position, the bracket is used as it is shown in FIG. 1, that is, with holes 30 and 32 empty. Obviously, when the leg is secured to the bracket, it will slant as shown in FIG. 2. If it is desired to mount the leg in the vertical position two buttons 36 are snapped into openings 32 before, or after, the bracket has been secured to the underside of the table It will be noted that the thickness of heads 38 of the buttons is such that when the buttons are inserted in holes 32, the under surfaces of the buttons will be in a plane with the lowest surface of the embossment 18 so that when the leg is secured to the bracket, the leg will bear against the embossment and against the underside of the buttons andthe leg will be mounted in the vertical position as shown in FIG. 4.

If it is desired to mount the leg at a slant greater than the slant shown in FIG. 2, the buttons are snapped into the openings 30 whereby the thickness of the heads of the buttons is added to the greatest. depth of the embossment thereby increasing the angle'between the plane of the attachrnent flange and a plane common to the undersurfaces of buttons 36 and the shallowest portion of the embossment and therefore a leg secured to a bracket so modified, will slant at a greater angle than that shown in FIG. 2. Also, by varying the thickness of the heads of the buttons, other angular relations can be achieved. While I have found that two buttons operate satisfactorily, it is within the scope of my invention to use more than two buttons or to use one button with a head having an area large enough toprovide the necessary bearing surface.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my invention can be carried out by the use of a single bracket such as the bracket shown in FIG. 2 of Wernecke and that by merely providing holes and 32 and snap buttons 36, I change the one way bracket of Wernecke to a three, or more, way bracket. It will also be seen that my three,

, or-more, Way bracket is simple to manufacture and uses much less steel than the double brackets of Wernecke and Shapiro and the dual bracket of Shapiro.

Buttons 35 are in the nature of spacers to produce an inclination or to compensate for an existing inclination and their surfaces may be slightly domed as shown or they may be flat.

If desired, the abutment surface of the embossment can be made straight, that is in a plane parallel to the plane of flange 10 and provided with holes, as shown. By this arrangement, the leg will be secured in a vertical position and to slant the leg, spacers 36 will be inserted in holes 30 or 32 as desired. It will be noted that by arranging holes 30 and 32 in a circle, for example, and byusing spacers of different thicknesses, the degree, as well as the direction of inclination of the leg can bevaried.

What I claim is:

A device for fastening a leg to the underside of an object to be supported thereby, said device including:

an attachment flange securable to the underside of the object,

an embossment depending from said flange and forming an abutment surface lying in a plane at an angle to the plane of said flange,

a threaded nut carried by a central portion of said embossment for receiving a threaded bolt carried by the upper end of the leg whereby engagement of said bolt with said nut brings the upper end of the leg into engagement with said abutment surface and the leg will be slanted relative to the underside of the object to be supported,

there being a first opening in a portion of the embossment which is relatively close to the plane of said flange and Y Y a second opening in another portion of the embossrnent which is relatively remote from said plane, and

a headed button engageable with said first or second opening the thickness of the head of said button being such as to compensate for the inclination of said abutment surface when said button is in said first opening, whereby the leg can be secured normal to the underside of the object, and whereby the inclination of said abutment surface is increased when said button is inserted in said second opening.

, References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. FRANK LQABBOTT, Examiner. 

